Crazy Mad Wonderful
by Scythling
Summary: Eat no food & drink no wine of the Fairy folk.' Well Alice has, and is now turning ill. The Hatter must persuade her to return and stay in Underland, or she will die. Alice/Hatter eventually. Rated M to be safe.
1. Underground, Alice

**Some aspects of Wonderland reminded me of a story I read as a kid, and inspired me in some aspects of this fic. I'm not saying everyone in Wonderland are fairies, I'm just saying their supernaturally awesome and perhaps some rules still apply... This is the prologue of the fic and is set before Alice visits Underland for the first time. R & R if you can. :)**

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"_Oh Margaret please finish the story; please." Five year old Alice stared up at her elder sister with large, pleading eyes, and Margaret, feeling quite tired, sighed, but obliged her little sister this one time. She reopened the book and took up the fairy story once more, as little Alice settled under the covers._

_"As the girl danced with the beautiful red haired prince, music began to play from nowhere at all, others began to dance, glorious women with men of equal beauty. Their dancing was much more untamed than the waltzing couple, and the young girl saw strange creatures out of the corner of her eye as the beautiful red haired man turned her once more till eventually they stopped and he told her, 'Have some wine, my sweet, and we can dance once more.' But the girl remembered the wise words of her mother, and refused. This angered them, some began wailing. The beautiful man asked one last time, and the girl swayed under his gaze, taking the cup to her lips, she drank the wine. And they danced merrily forever under the hills and trees, but the girl never returned home to her family, and remained underground forever for she had forgotten the wise words passed down by many a wise old woman."_

_Margaret paused for effect, rather amused by the suspense captured in her siblings eyes._

"_Do you know what her mother said to her, Alice?" _

_Alice shook her head quickly, golden curls flying about her as Margaret continued._

"_The wise words of wiser women should be heeded by little children; 'Of the Fey Folk, Eat no food, and drink no wine, or you will never reach your home again'."_

_Margaret closed the book and leaned forward to kiss her little sister on the cheek._

"_Goodnight Alice, now don't be having any nightmares." She blew out the candle on the bedside table and waited for Alice to lie down._

"_Margaret?" Alice called from under her covers._

"_Hmm?" Her sister hovered at the door impatiently._

"_It does not sound so bad; dancing forever with the fairy prince. What is so evil about dancing?"_

"_It's not about the dancing, Alice. Fairies steal people away; lure little children like you into their world where you're never seen again." Alice thought for a moment before asking another question._

"_Margaret, where do fairies live?" _

"_Underground Alice; deep under the hills and trees. It's just a story. Now get to sleep."_

_The door closed and Alice thought about what a fairy would look like, and what their food would taste of. In her dream, the red-haired prince wore a rainbow of colours, and a feather in his hat. __Surely dancing forever could not be as bad as the wise women thought? She pondered about this for sometime before settling into an undisturbed sleep._


	2. Dying

**A quick update thanks to the reviews and favourites of you kind people. This is now Present Day Alice and Hatter POVS, and I've made Mallymkun a guy mouse because apparently he was meant to be in the book. Hope you Enjoy. :)**

**I do not own any of the characters.**

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Alice finished reading it through.

She then reached feebly for her perfume bottle, and sprayed the letter once before folding it four times.

Mallymkun was about to protest at the feminine the stench, but knew not to make Alice feel any worse, for she looked very... un-Alice like; in fact, she smelt of Underland, which was the most worrying thing. The Hatter had been right, she was fading, slowly at first, but it had been six years now, and had sped up drastically. He knew Alice meant a great deal to the Hatter, for he had begged him many a time to visit the Uplands to search for her, which was how Alice had found him.

"Please give this to him," Alice whispered, the strain on her voice was easily detectable, but she had to keep her voice down; her family already thought her mad.

Mallymkun nodded and stuck his miniscule sword through the letter and held it high above his head.

"Don't worry; I'll get it to him as fast as I can go." With that, he scurried across the table to the open windowsill and jumped down to where the McTwisp the rabbit was waiting for him.

As silence enveloped her, Alice looked around her room for what she knew would be the last time, either way.

All she had to do now was wait.

She collapsed against the back of her chair and examined her hands with palms facing up. Alice moved her fingers, red and sore at the knuckles, each movement made her hand ache terribly. Writing the letter had weakened her, but then again, she was not sleeping or eating at all...

At first, she'd passed off her illness as tiredness, not to worry her family; and after Mother had died three months ago, Alice had been able to disguise the illness as sorrow, which indeed she had felt initially, but the illness had begun to drain her, more and more. The most worrying part of her illness was that she appeared normal to behold, though perhaps normal was not the best choice of word. Even though she had not eaten for some time, her curves had prevailed, and her hair shone with an unatural glow. Even the Bandersnatch scratch scars were an eerie, shimmery silver that seemed to sparkle in the light.

But despite these changes, the thing that had grown the most was the aching in her heart for Underland; the most missed features being her friends, especially dear Hatter. But one of her most vivid memories was of the Hatter's tea party. Oh the scones and tea, sugar, cakes and biscuits that had been laid out hadn't tempted her then, but now, she could happily have slain a Jabberwocky for a scone from the Hatter's table.

No food she ate or liquid she drank satisfied her, but a month ago, she had taken a violent dislike to all food, no matter what kind, that would have put Hamish's sensitive bowels to shame. She simply could not keep the food down. If it kept up... well, Alice knew the answer to that.

A tear slid pathetically down her cheek.

She'd kept away from them all so long, and now, as if they hadn't suffered enough, she was returning to Underland; to die. Alice knew it had been foolish, not returning sooner. She could just picture Absolem, sat upon her shoulder chiding her.

"_Stupid girl..."_

As the sickness had grown, so had the aching, burning desire to be in Underland; to feel the charged air around her, to be taken aback suddenly by Chessur's spontaneous appearance, to be reminded subtly by Nivens that she was running late, for what she would never know, and to be... Oh Hatter...

She sobbed silently for a moment at the thought of her dearest and most unusual friend. What would he think to behold her in three hours time? She had lost her muchness a long time ago, along with her health. Everything she'd done since returning home was wasted. No one saw her as Alice Kingsley, the Trade Pioneer, but as Mad Alice, the girl who was starving herself to death in her room because she thought she was ill when it was all in her head; and 'she hadn't even married!'

She did not care what they thought of her, the only thing that upset her was how much time she'd wasted and the trouble she'd caused.

"Why did I leave you?" She cried aloud to no one in particular, but for some reason, she felt it was intended for Tarrant.

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After reading the letter, the Hatter screwed it up angrily into a small ball before hurling it away from him. Why was it his first letter from Alice happened to be the one he'd never wanted to read under any circumstances? She was in trouble, but hopefully, he could fix that.

The anxiety he felt reminded him it was really happening. It was six years now, yet if felt like forever and possibly more whilst waiting for midnight.

Looking out from the balcony on which they had shared a brief moment together, he thought of her for the umpteenth time.

He worried and worried, and thought of her over and over, continuously carving her face into his fractured, yet not quite broken mind until he was sure, almost completely positive that he could count the curls that framed her pale face, almost reach out and touch her – His shaking hands had caught nothing, because she had left Underland, left them.

The Hatter, perched on the rails precariously, leaned back against the pillar. The slowly dimming light was mocking him again. It had looked this way when she'd been stood there, caught somewhere between blue and a soft violet, the hue even managing to soften the garish colours of his attire. He missed her strange questions, her admirable boldness, and he knew he wasn't the only one.

He shook his head violently, trying now to forget that night, because it hurt to remember things that upset him, but as hard as he tried, he could not erase her from his mind.

She'd looked so... moreish, so different, so much... well, more. His thoughts always seemed so rational around her, until he got overexcited, but she had politely brought him back from the edge he was leaning over now.

The edge of his mind, where sense and rational thinking frayed at the seams as it collided with the abyss of insanity.

Why was it that around her, his mind was at ease? Why was it that his body ached but mostly inside, like a poisoning, burning ache that left him clutching at his skin through the fabric? He was broken, and possibly the most disheartened he'd been since the Fire, and he felt out of place, as Underland was the happiest it had been for years, and yet, no Alice.

For the sake of what remained of his sanity, the Hatter tried to distract his own thoughts.

But they were Alice, always Alice, and why wouldn't they be? She had treated him far different to any of the inhabitants of Underland, and he respected her more than anyone, even more than Queen Mirana, for it had been Alice who had slain the Jabberwocky, the dreaded beast of his past ... He remembered feeling lost for words, watching her atop the crumbling tower, the Jabberwocky's beheaded corpse falling out of the sky as its head rolled down the staircase.

He rocked dangerously, cradling his arms as relived the rush of pride he'd felt for Alice, and the uplifting feeling of being free of his hatred for the Jabberwocky, so much so that he remembered looking down upon the pathetic Ilosovic Stayne cowering below him, and not even feeling the slightest urge to strike him, despite how much the man deserved it.

The Hatter grinned to himself as his eyes regained their green shade, recalling how overjoyed he'd been on that Frabjous day, although he had never worried as much as that in his entire life. He felt a small flush of embarrasement at how he had thoughtlessly rushed in to aid her, and consequently put the lives of everyone from the two courts in danger as it had sparked the battle.

And then after so much happiness, it had ended so horribly, the Hatter frowned as his eyes faded to a pale grey, and almost winced as he recollected their parting words.

He recalled standing cautiously behind her, unable to think, or say anything that would make sense to her. He'd gone on about the curious subject of ravens and writing desks, whilst he'd stalled for a better question. Either way, he had decided with the most difficult of all the topics, despite already knowing her answer. And she could have, surely, have stayed a little longer, thought it out. He knew Alice well enough to know that she learnt fast, but took her time in making important decisions, but not that time.

Looking back on it, his arguments had been very weak, and he picked at a loose thread from his sleeve absent-mindedly. Admittedly, he felt rather self-conscious of his feeble attempt at convincing her to stay, the "you won't remember me" line, and her parting shot, "I'll be back before you know it."

Well, the Hatter sighed, he was going to bring her back, because if he didn't, Alice would die.

His eyes flamed into a dangerous orange before turning a grey-blue colour out of sadness. From Mally's report, it sounded as though she had barely any time left.

'My fault, my fault, my fault...' the Hatter groaned internally. He should have gone up, forced her to return...

Mirana had reassured him gently that none of them could have foreseen it, since Alice was the first mortal to enter Underland, and to eat and drink as they did. But Hatter knew she would die unless she returned, and he took heart in the fact that it would be for good, however, whether or not she would heal in Underland determined what state she would be remaining in.

He turned suddenly and saw Nivens and Queen Mirana in the arch way.

"It's time." The white rabbit said solemnly. Tarrent nodded.

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**Okay, that's chapter two, please let me know what you think!! I'll try and update quickly i promise.**


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